Road Trip On Koumi Line Part 2

We resume our two-day trip of enquiry and discovery on the Hisatsu Orange Railway Line. It connects Sendai Station in Kagoshima Prefecture and Yatsushiro Station in Kumamoto Prefecture. On day one, we advanced to Minamata Station in Kumamoto and eventually managed to find accommodation at Tsurumisou. The hot spring inn in Yunotsuru Onsen is located by the Yude River. It is too late for the inn to prepare dinner, so the staff tells us about a cafe called Syokokuya Honpo. Opened in 2012, it serves dishes made with locally grown vegetables. Since salad onion is a speciality of Minamata, we order the miso omelette hashed beef rice with salad onions. After dinner, we soak in Tsurumisou’s hot spring baths, including a rock bath. 

The following day, after a delicious Japanese-style breakfast, we walk to the nearest bus stop and take the 8.45am bus to Minamata Station. We buy a day pass, board the train at 9.45am and go to our first stop, Sashiki Station. We reach the station in the town of Ashikita after about 20 minutes. A local we meet suggests we go to the Sashiki Castle Ruins. The castle was built by Kiyomasa Kato in 1588 on the border between Satsuma and Higo. It takes us 45 minutes to reach the castle ruins on foot. We climb to the top and are treated to a panoramic view of the Shiranui Sea, the mountains and the Sashiki River.    

Another resident tells us about a park near Tanoura Otachimisaki Koen Station, three stops away. We head there by the 12.20pm train and enjoy the view of the calm Shiranui Sea and Amakusa Islands. The train journey takes about 10 minutes. We later find out the park is actually quite far from the station and there are no buses going there. So we shelve our plan to visit the park. We speak to a local, who mentions the Fujisaki Family house, where famous cooking expert Tomi Egami was born.  

We manage to find the place and take a tour of the spacious house, which was built around 1893. Recognised for its fine wood and high carpentry skills, it has been registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property. Ms Egami was born in this house and when she was in third grade, she started to learn cooking from her mother. She later became a culinary expert and appeared in several TV programmes.  

We catch the 2.25pm train and go to Higo Futami, two stations away. We reach after about 10 minutes but do not manage to find anything interesting here. A local suggests we go to the neighbouring station, Hinagu Onsen. So we hop on the 3.40pm train and reach after a five-minute ride. We find out that the most famous thing in this area is chikuwa, or Japanese fish cake. We drop by Katayama Chikuwa, which is a 15-minute walk from the station. The owner tells us it is the only store that still uses fish caught in the sea in Yatsushiro. The flavourful chikuwa is very popular among the locals. Traditional methods are used to produce the store’s products, which include chikuwa made with vegetables. 

We next head to our goal, Yatsushiro Station, on the 4.40pm train. The scenery outside changes and we see the Kuma River, which flows through the Yatsushiro Plain. We reach Yatsushiro Station, the terminal, after five minutes. We visit a flower shop and the staff recommends a jazz cafe called Mick which opened in 1967. We visit the cafe, where patrons can listen to the owner's favourite jazz music while sipping speciality coffee. 

Tips:

1)    Salad onions are a speciality of Minamata City
2)    Check out the panoramic view of the Shiranui Sea and mountains from the Sashiki Castle Ruins